"Seriously? What's that girl's problem? Why's she got to be a total bitch to you?" Lee growled enraged. He and I were sitting on the couch, with me leaning up against him; we were wrapped in blankets with hot tea in our laps. Noah was plunked down on the chair and Marco was leaning up against the living room wall with his arms crossed. The mood was…. angry, to say the least; angry and sad on my end.
Noah's head shook disgusted. "So let me get this straight? She won't let you have these books you put on reserve before you came to Seoul? Is that it?" My head bobbed up and down. He watched me for a moment. "And did you…. contact anyone at the university about this?" "There'd be no point. She said her supervisor would reserve them for her. She's already got them….." My forefinger twitched on my mug. Noah and Marco gave each other a look. Lee huffed for what felt like the hundredth time that night; I snuggled in closer to him.
"Nugh, this is so stupid. Isn't there anything we can do?" "It's ok, Lee. We'll get the books in Busan. Elle and I have already checked their library catalogue; they have them available," Marco said. I blinked up at him surprised. He actually double-checked their site for me? Awe. That's so incredibly sweet, and I didn't even know…. My watching Marco distracted me from the confused and mildly excited expression on the Flynn brothers' faces. Lee's eyes lit up.
"Oh, that's right! I almost forgot; we're going to Busan!" "You're coming with us, Lee?" My eyes rolled over to him startled. I mean, I never said he couldn't come; I just didn't think he'd be interested in joining us. But Lee's smile said it all. "Course I am! I've never been to Busan before; it'll be fun!" "It's going to be a daytrip to the university. It's not a vacation," Marco felt the need to clarify. I admit I had to peer back at him, still slightly astonished. I know he said "it looks like we're going to Busan" before, but he hasn't actually confirmed he's coming with me until well, now. Then again, I never questioned whether or not he was coming along…. I guess I unconsciously, automatically assumed he would….. I mean, who else would I go to Busan with? Well, except for Lee…. But looking back, I never even asked him to.
Noah also was taken aback by this. "Wait, you're going too?" He pointed at Marco. Marco's eyes locked with his, but only momentarily. "Course I'm going. Elle's not going to Busan by herself." "Why not? She's been all around Europe on her own before. You were stocked multiple times there, weren't you, Elle?" "Shut it, Lee!" It's true, I was stocked more times than I can count on both hands, but they don't need to know that! He makes it sound a lot worse than it was…. if that doesn't make me sound too bad myself.
Too late. Both Marco and Noah had looks of horror scrawled over their faces. Great, thanks Lee; I inwardly rolled my eyes, preparing for what would happen next. Noah was the first to stand up straight. "You were stocked?! What…?! Was this like a weekly occurrence?" He demanded, his hands bunching into fists. Oh my god…. "No! Well, actually…. kinda. But nothing happened! Oh my god; it wasn't a big deal." "Sure sounds like a big deal," Lee muttered, being no help whatsoever. Noah's eyes grew evermore serious and protective.
"How can you be so calm about this, Elle? It's no wonder you didn't mind staying alone in your department building that night." "Come on, Flynn. How could she have known that guy was there?" Marco came to my defence. But Noah was having none of it, shooting him a look. "You're ok with that?" "Of course not. That's why I'm going to Busan with her." "That's one of the reasons I'm going, but I also wanna see the city and take a Korean train," Lee threw in his two cents while grinning. Noah turned to him, then back to me. Our eyes met for a moment before he let out a sigh. "Then I guess I'll be going too, since it turns out everyone else is going," he rubbed the back of his neck. "Are you sure, Noah? It might be boring," I said. "Yeah. We're going to a university library which will probably eat up a good chunk of the trip," Marco added. Noah shrugged his shoulder casually. "It'll give me a chance to see another Korean campus. Plus the trip there and back should be interesting." Noah…. My eyes settled onto him.
Lee clapped his hands together. "Good! Now that we've got that figured out, let's party!" "We didn't buy any booze," I didn't mean to rain on his parade, but Lee just waved his hand dismissively at me. "Ah, we can party without alcohol. Besides you don't drink." "What's that bottle Ji-yoon gave you, Elle?" Marco motioned to my backpack. I perked up, glancing at it rememberingly. "Oh, she gave me a pop before I left the office party. It's a Korean drink called cider. I've never heard of it before tonight." "Didn't you tell her you don't drink?" Noah's head spun my way puzzled. "I did. She said it's non-alcoholic; like a soda." "Do you see the word "alcohol" anywhere on the label?" Marco asked me while scanning over the bottle; I was the best at reading Korean amongst all of us. I shook my head. That was all it seemed Lee needed. He gleefully snatched the bottle from Marco's hand and removed its lid.
"Let's give it a try. I haven't had much Korean pop yet." "I don't know, Lee," I hesitated for some reason. I knew it wasn't alcoholic, but still Ji-yoon gave it to me. Then again, she did so in front of all our colleagues, so I doubt it's suspicious or anything. "What's there to know? She was going to drink this; it's not drugged, Elle," with that, Lee took a swill of the beverage. We all waited to hear his reaction to the drink. Lee wiped his mouth and had this look of satisfaction on his face. "It's good. It tastes like really sweet cider. Here, Elle; you try some," Lee handed me the bottle. I sniffed it before giving it a testing taste. My eyes lit up a bit. "That is good!" It had a bit of bite to it, but I thought that was just the cider's natural flavour. Now happy in my choice to try it, I held the bottle up for Marco to take. He respectfully declined with a grin. "If you like it, Elle, you should drink it. It's yours, after all." Noah wasn't so quick to deny a taste, but he left the rest of the bottle for me and Lee.
Turns out that was a big mistake.
One hour later- one hour, that's all it took. And oh, boy; let me tell you. That bottle clearly wasn't just soda, and while we weren't drugged, it was clear something else was going. What I am about to describe did happen, but neither Lee nor me have no memory of the following events.
"F is for friends who do stuff together!" "U is for you and me!" "N is for anywhere and anytime at all, down here in the deep blue sea!" Lee and I burst out in a laughing fit like the two idiots we were. A dumbfounded Marco and Noah were sitting on the rooftop beside Noah's tent, watching us speechless. Over the past hour, Lee's and my behaviour had grown progressively….. stupider. Somehow it came into my head to sing songs from our childhood, which Lee thought was the best idea in the world. "Oh, I love that song!" Lee shouted in his happy stupor. "Me too!" My hands waved up above me excitedly. Noah and Marco quietly glanced at each other with concerned expressions.
"You know something? I always wanted Squidward as a neighbour. Hehe, I think it would- hic- be fun to play with him!" I couldn't stop giggling. "Then that would make me Patrick, and you'd be SpongeBob!" Lee pointed his forefinger at me. "Yay! I get to live in a pineapple under the sea!" "Hey, wait; that means I get- hic- to live under a rock! That's not fair!" Lee cried dramatically, like this was some serious conversation. "Then just move in with Squidward. I'm sure he'd love that!" Once again, my hands flung up into the air with excitement. "Oh, you're right! We'd be the best roommates ever!" Lee tried- and failed- to snap his fingers together. "Yay!"
Noah scratched the back of his neck, a bit lost on what to do. "So… they're drunk," he stated matter-of-factly. "How can that be? They haven't had any….. oh, wait," Marco picked up the now empty cider bottle. He sniffed it and looked confused. "It didn't smell like booze." They considered for a moment before Noah straightened up. "What was that drink Lee mentioned in the restaurant? Sogo or Soju?" "Soju?" "Yeah, that. What does that taste like?" "Well, I've never tried it before, but from what I've heard, it tastes like vodka with a sweet aftertaste." It didn't take long for it to click in both their brains simultaneously. Their eyes drifted back to Lee and me in dismay. "Now it all makes sense….." "At least she's not taking off her clothes this time," Noah leaned back in his seat, rubbing his hand over his eyes exasperatedly.
"What song- hic- should we sing next?" I asked, rolled around quite merrily on the bench I was sitting on. "There Are No Cats In America," Lee proposed. "But there are cats in America. Who wrote that song?!" "Bob Dylan," my best friend answered. "Don Bluth," Noah sighed. "What'd you call me?" Lee suddenly demanded of his brother, all upset now. Noah let out a huff, not wanting to get mad at his drunk younger brother or ex. "The director of the movie that song's from. An American Tail, remember?" "It's not An American Tail- it's Mouse Trap. Everyone knows that," Lee slurred, making Noah roll his eyes for what felt like the millionth time that night.
"How are you feeling, Elle?" Macro asked me. "Me? I'm feeling great! I'm on top of the world!" Both arms flew high into the air; I did that a lot tonight. "Not feeling nauseous?" "Nope! Not even- hic- a little bit!" "Good. Has she always been this much of a light weight?" Marco inquired to Noah, who responded with a grin. "You have no idea."
Yet again, I clasped my hands together and stretched them up high. While staring up at the night sky, a brilliant smile erupted across my lips. "Look at the moon; look how glorious it is!" Everyone looked up and I carried on, still grinning the whole time. "Ah, I love- hic- I love being in Asia! I love Asian philosophy so much. It's always made so much sense to me." "What kind of sense, Elle?" Lee hiccupped while asking me. "Yin and yang; the balance of everything. Heh, I- hic- I've never told anyone this before, but I read the Tao Te Ching once a year." "You do?" Marco blinked in surprise. I nodded eagerly.
"What about- hic- that other book you were gushing to me about? Back- hic- in masters; the one about love?" Lee was still watching the sky entranced. "The Sorrows Of Young Werther? Oh man, I love that book too! Napoleon's too- he read it over seven times, you- hic- know." "What's that book about?" Noah questioned kindly. My grin grew bigger, if that were possible. "It's about this young guy who falls in love with this engaged girl somewhere in Germany." "That's not the way you described it to me, Elle!" Lee interjected. "Oh, alright; how about this?"
I cleared my throat for my drunken monologue. "A man sees this lady, whose inaccessible virtues more and more shine forth and flourish each day. And for that entire love, did it stem from that sacred night when she first beheld unto him. He tried not to look at her, as if she were the sun. And yet he saw her, like the sun, even without looking…." A moment of silence followed this. It was Noah who broke the thoughtful quiet by gazing in my direction. "Sounds like you know what that feels like." "Oh, I do! For me, it happened when one day I was with him…. I wanted to go- hic- and take him by the hand; hold his hand and stay with him just like that forever." A pregnant pause. "I felt that way after he smiled at me that one time. Heh, he never used to smile much…. Then one night I turned around suddenly and caught him looking at me…. and he was smiling then. And I felt… it's almost impossible to describe. It's like I was given the most enormous, beautiful present." Another long pause. "Who are you talking about, Elle?" Lee finally inquired. I burst out into a giggling fit, hiding my face in my hands. "It's a secret! It's a secret!"
Little did I know; I was oblivious to the fact that the mood was very tense and intimate around me. All I felt was bubbly and light, not realizing I just poured my heart out in a sea of poetic word vomit. And I'm sure all men present were very, very interested in who I was referring to. Lee managed to successfully snap his fingers this time.
"I knew it! You do like someone!" "Tehe, maybe," I nibbed my forefinger a bit. Noah and Marco were very invested in the conversation now. "Maybe! That's the same as a "yes"! Elle's got a crush on someone! Does that mean you'll start dating soon?" "He doesn't even know I like him, Lee. We- hic- didn't part well before." Oh boy, those few words sent the imagination flying. Both sober men present now had their eyes locked onto me. Course I was unaware of all this. I simply placed both my hands on my cheeks and kept grinning like a lunatic. "But… I do like him. But shhhhh! He doesn't know it yet! I gotta- hic- tell him at the exact right time!" "She goes from giving beautiful soliloquies to gushing like a teenage girl?" Noah said, though it was obvious he was supremely invested just then. "I like him, but it's a secret. So don't tell anyone! Ok?"
Still giggling to myself, I began to fall backwards on my bench seat. I hadn't even noticed I was letting myself fall. "Hey, watch out!" Lee called out for me, reaching out his hand. I was stopped however, by two different hands. Marco grabbed my right side while Lee grabbed my left. That's how I passed out, with one of each of their hands pressing into my back, keeping me from falling flat down.
Not a bad way to black out, if you ask me.